Student Spotlight: Zachary Bishkin
Earning two degrees, in accounting and finance with a minor in economics, you’d think Loyola Marymount University senior Zachary Bishkin is all business and you’d be right – almost. He does have a fun side.
In addition to being in the honors program and a brother of Delta Sigma Pi, a professional business fraternity at LMU, and working on campus at LMU’s Facilities Management Quality Assurance Department, Bishkin likes to go rock climbing and bouldering and spends a lot of time in the LMU gym as a way to build up his strength for climbing. “My other big hobby is food,” he said. “In addition to learning new recipes in the kitchen, my even bigger interest is exploring new restaurants. I read about restaurants around L.A. and try to visit a new one every week.”
He decided to attend LMU for a variety of reasons. “I went to Jesuit College Preparatory in Dallas, Texas, and had a strong interest in continuing my education at a Jesuit institution. I thought that the Jesuit approach was very in line with my own values and LMU seemed like a good place. I also knew that I wanted to be in a completely new place and Los Angeles was about as different from Dallas as I could get. Attending LMU was a way to expand my perspective.”
Upon arriving at LMU, Bishkin planned on being a finance major. Declaring accounting as a major came after he took a financial accounting class with Professor Nancy Coster during the spring semester of freshman year because he “thought it was something I could be successful doing. The attractive thing about accounting for me is that it is a great lens for understanding business as a whole. It provides insight into operations, management, corporate governance, marketing and financing.” The minor in economics came from taking an economics class freshman year that he particular enjoyed. Bishkin feels, “Economics is the conceptual background to business and would be very useful.”
This summer, Bishkin interned with Deloitte based out of the Los Angeles office. He started the summer in Deloitte’s audit practice as a team member for a financial services client and a technology client. “While I had an idea of what an audit is from my accounting classes, this summer has given me a baseline practical understanding of how an audit runs,” said Bishkin. He finished his internship with a mergers and acquisitions rotation in the advisory practice. He feels that “M&A is a perfect blend in between my accounting degree and my finance degree.” Bishkin summarized his summer internship experience as: “I have loved my internship this summer because of the wonderful people, the great learning experiences and the stimulating work I have been able to do.”
Going forward, Bishkin plans on finishing his honors thesis during his senior year and traveling. After graduation, he will work full time at Deloitte in the Audit and Assurance practice.
“I place a lot of value in experiences. Part of my interest in coming to L.A. to study business was because I thought that there were so many experiences to be had here in this career path. No matter where a career path leads me, I know my accounting degree will help me generate value in any position at any company,” said Bishkin.